Curtain-fixture.



INVENTOR PATENTED JUNE 4, 1907.

a N. u r a m u s A w a. c s n s r s P n R o N s u r C. L. HOPKINS.

CURTAIN FIXTURE.

APPLIOATION'HLBD MAR. 21, 1907.

No. 8 5 5 '7 8 I WITNESSES.-

CHARLES L. HOPKINS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CURTAIN-FIXTURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 1907'.

Application filed March 2l, 1907. Serial No. 363,551,

To all whom, it may concern.-

Beit known that I, CHARLES L. HOPKINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Curtain-Fixtures, of which the rollowing is a full, clear, concise, and eXact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this speciiication.

This invention relates to improvements in curtain xtures of that class or type which are adapted to besecured to or carried by a spring-actuated curtain or shade at or near its lower edge, and which are provided with ends adapted to run in grooves formed in the window casing, whereby the curtain is guided in its vertical movement.

More particularly, this invention relates to a device of the ab ove-outlined class in which the ends of the stick are provided with outwardly-spring-pressed heads or tips adapted to run in the grooves of the window-frame and by their irictional engagement with the bottoms of these grooves to hold the curtain against upward movement.

Such devices are principally used in street and railway cars, and as they are handled by the public, it becomes necessary to so construct them that they cannot be injured or disarranged by ineddlesome persons. In the construction of cars, and particularly of street cars, there is considerable variation in the widths of the windows, the casings of these windows being often considerably wider or narrower than the calculated width. Hence it becomes necessary that the curtainholding devices be made longitudinally adjustable so that they may be adapted to windows varying to some extent from the width for which the devices were constructed, and it is desirable that means be provided whereby, when the device has been adjusted so as to properly fit in. and work in the windowcasing, the parts may then be locked so that this adjustment cannot be lost by rotating the tips or heads or otherwise tampering with the device.

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of a device of this class in which improved and simpliiied means are employed whereby the device may be adapted to windows varying in width within certain limits, and also to so construct the device that after the proper adjustment has been secured this adjustment cannot be lost by rotating the heads or otherwise.

In the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the device, showing the parts in their normal or adjusted position, and with the heads slightly compressed, as would be the case with the device in place in the grooves; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1,

- but showing the parts in a diiierent position as will be hereinafter explained; Fig. 3 is a broken elevational view of a portion oi the device with the pinch-handles removed; Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the device, the section being taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the device with the pinchhandles removed, taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; Fig. 6 shows, in elevation and longitudinal section, one of the parts of the device disassociated from the other parts; and Fig. 7 is an elevational end view of one of the pinchhandles removed from the tubular stick.

In the several iigures of the drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate the same parts throughout, 8 is the usual tubular curtain-stock, this stick being secured to the curtain, preferably by forming a pocket in the material of the curtain for the reception of this stick. At each end of this stick is a head or tip 9, which may be of any preferred form and forms no part of the present invention. The head 9 is provided with a stem or shank 10 which is adapted to slidably fit into the end of the stick 8 and is secured upon the outer end of the rod 11. This rod has sleeved thereon a spring 12 which is seated against a block 13 abutting the inturned tongues 13a formed on the tube 8. The spring 12 tends to move the head 9 outwardly so as to hold the same in engagement with the bottom of the groove in the windowcasing.

The inner end of the rod 11 is screwthreaded for engagement with the threads of a screw-threaded o ening in the elongated shank 15 of a pen ant or pinch-handle 16 which projects through a slot 17 in the tube 8. By pinching these handles together the heads 9 are released from engagement with IOO the bottoms of the grooves and the curtain may be vertically adjusted to the desired position as with other devices of this class. The rod and head are limited in their outward movement by the abutting of the pinch-handle against the end of the slot 17 in the tube.

To lengthen or shorten the device the head 9 is rotated so as to screw the threaded end of the rod 11 into or out ofthe shank 15 of the pinch-handle 16. If no means were provided for preventing the accomplishment of this by `unauthorized persons, the device could be lengthened and shortened so as to.

fail to operate perfectly, hence I provide means whereby, when the parts of the device are assembled, such rotation of the head is prevented. To this end I provide a projection or spline 18 on the rod 1 1, this spline being adapted to work back and forth in a slot 19 formed in the block 13 which is arranged in the tube 8 to serve as a seat against which the spring 12 thrusts. To permit the head 9 and the rod 11 to be rotated this head and rod must be thrust inwardly until the spline 18 passes the end of the block 13. The slot 17 1n the tube 8 is of sufficient length that the pendant or pinch-handle 16 may, when moved as far in as possible, be disengaged from the end of the rod 11, as shown in Fig. 2. It is necessary, however, that means be provided whereby the pinch-handles will be limited in their movement toward the middle of the stick so that when the device is assembled and in position in the window-casing the heads cannot be drawn too far into the stick and be thereby moved out ofthe grooves.

To prevent these heads from being thus withdrawn I provide a stop or spacing member 20, adapted to be inserted into the tube through the slot 17 after the proper adjustment has been made, this block being held in place by a screw 21. When the block 2O is in place the rods 11 ,v and heads 9 cannot be moved toward the center of the stick far enough to permit the spline 18 on the rod 11 to pass the end of the block 13 and leave the slot 19, consequently it is impossible for the heads to be rotated and the device gotten out of adjustment unless the block 20 be removed irom the tube. Means are thereby provided for preventing the len th of the iiX- ture from being changed, and t e proper adjustment being thus lost.

The opening 17 is covered by a cover-plate 22, formed with an elongated opening 23, through which the pinch -handles work. This plate is held in place by the stop or spac ing member 20, this block being given a substantially U shape as shown best in Fig. 5, and having the outer ends of the legs of the U bent away from each other so as to engage and lap over the plate 22 and secure the same firmly in place. The spacing member 20 1. In a curtain iiXture, the combination of i a tubular stick, a vrod within said stick, a spring for thrusting said rod toward the end of the stick, said tube having a slot between its ends, a pinch-handle extending through said slot and having screw-threaded engagement with the inner end ot the rod, means normally preventing the rotation of said rod and consequent detachment of the same from the pinch-handle, said means being adapted to permit the rod to be rotated when said rod is thrust into the tube beyond a predetermined point, and means for normally preventing said rod from being thus thrust inward relative to said stick. i

2. In a curtain iixture, the combination of a slotted tubular stick, a pinch-handle eX- tending through the slot in said stick, a rod having screw threaded engagement with said pinch-handle, means normally preventing rotation of said rod, but adapted to per-l mit said rod to be rotated when the latter is thrust into the stick beyond a predetermined point, and removable means in the stick for normally preventing said rod from being moved inward past said predetermined point.

3. In a curtain fixture, the combination of a tubular stick, a spring-actuated rod in said stick, means slidably but non-rotatably arranged in the stick and having screw-threaded engagement with the inner end oi' said rod, said means being adapted to limit the outward movement of the rod, means within the stick for preventing rotation oi' said rod, and consequent detachment of the same from said limiting means, but adapted to permit such rotation of the rod when the latter is thrust into the stick beyond a predetermined point, and a removable member adapted to normally limit the inward movement of said rod.

4. In a curtain lixture, the combination of a tubular stick, a rod within said stick, a spring tending to thrust said rod toward the end of the stick, means adapted to normally prevent rotation oi said rod, a screw-threaded pinch-handle in said stick adapted to be secured upon the inner end of said rod by the rotation of the latter, means for limiting the outward movement of said pinch-handle, and removable means adapted to limit the inward movement of said pinch-handle.

5. In a curtain iixture, the combination of a tubular stick, a spring-actuated rod within said stick, means located within the stick adapted to normally prevent rotation. of said rod, but permitting rotation thereof when said rod is moved longitudinally beyond a given IIO1 point, means Within the stick adapted to limit scribed my name in the presence of two Witthe movement of the rod in the direction to nesses. release said rod, said means having screwtlireaded connection Witli said rod, and means GHARLES L HOPKINS 5 adapted to limit the movement of said rod in Witnesses:

the opposite direction. A. M. PETERSON,

In Witness Wliereof7 I haveliereunto sub- M. L. FARRAR. 

